The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
by Diamond Sylvan
Summary: When Andy recieves her Hogwarts letter, she discovers the truth behind her family history. Will the houses unite to defeat Voldemort, or will Andy be the ruin of them all? This is a Harry story, and he is in it as a sixth year!
1. Family History

Chapter 1

Family History

Andromeda was lying on her bed, waving her feet in the air and reading a magazine. She

had just finished painting her nails and was drying them in the air. She bobbed her head in time to

the music, "I'm a survivor, I'm not gonna give up.." blared from the radio. Turning the page to

read more embarrassing moments, Andy accidentally smudged one of her hot pink masterpieces

of a fingernail.

"Shit!" She cried, looking up from the pages and whipping out her que tip and mail polish

remover. Just as she began repainting the finger her mother walked in.

"Andy, are you painting your nails on the bed again? Honestly, I worry about you. I really

do, just the other day I was reading an article about how the smell of nail polish kills brain cells.

Make sure you don't get that paint on your brand new bedspread, and if you continue to insist to

paint your fingers in you room, you have to open a window at least."

"All right, I'm sorry mom."

"You always say 'all right', but you never listen, and you never do it, just the other day I was

telling you to clean your room. Now look at it! Is it clean? I think not! And Andy, I'm serious

this time, you really need to clean tis room, we have company coming tomorrow night."

"Alright mom."

"And will you please put those clothes away? I just spent all morning ironing them-"

"Alright mother." Andy said, becoming increasingly sarcastic and aditudal. Andy was a 13

year old girl, and the last thing she wanted to hear was her mothers ranting. Honestly, her room

wasn't that messy, besides, school had just ended. What did her mother expect during finals

week? So what if she didn't pick up her dirty clothing and papers from the floor during this one

week? When exactly was she supposed to be doing this? When she wasn't studying for her

exams, she was at the endless swim meets, that or chorus. During the end of the year crunch

things got a little hectic, even though it was only Andy and her mother, it was still crazy. Andy's

father had gone missing several years ago, when Andy was only seven year old. Her mother,

since then, had started eating for comfort, and in addition to drowning her depression in food,

she had become a combination work-a-holic neat freak.

"Well, I came up hear to tell you that you have a letter."

"Alright, where is it?"

"On the counter. Oh, and by the way, you need to call Mrs. Hallman back, she had wanted

you to baby sit next week, she has the dates and times."

"Alright, I'll be down in a second." Andy screwed the cap back onto her nail polish as she

closed the magazine and stood up. She had to give her mother some allowance, she was a

remarkably cool mom, much cooler than most of the other moms Andy knew, and she had had

a hard life. When Andy was seven, her father had disappeared a week before Andy's mother

found out that she was pregnant with her third child. Andy and her twin had been the first two.

Nine months later, her mother suffered the fourth big tragedy of her life.

The first had been her parents drowning after falling off a highway overpass in their Chevvy.

The second had been Andy's twin, a boy named Andrew, died in intensive care hours after

being born. The third had been the disappearance of her husband, shortly followed by the

miscarriage of her child. This had caused her cup of sadness to overflow, after this last death she

had sunk into her work. Andy rarely saw her, her days consisted of school and a blur of

aupares.

Not long after that her mother began to put on weight, eating more and more to calm herself

down. She had several therapists who all referred to it as obsessive overeating behind her back

and a problem to work through to her face. Now, six years later, she was still working and had

not yet managed to work through her many problems. Andy walked down the hall to the large

kitchen, they lived in an apartment so there was no downstairs (unless of course you counted

Mr. Harvys kitchen).

On the counter there was an envelope. It was not like the slips Andy normally got from

librarians, telling her she had overdue books, from the school telling her about some function

coming up, or telling her mother about her most recent escapades. This letter was thick and

heavy. Andy, curious, ripped open the letter quickly. She had never been patient, and wanted to

get to the meat of the letter, she was not interested in the envelope.

__

_Dear Ms. Glenn, _

__

_ Whether or not you are aware, you have extrodanary gift and abilities. Because of _

_this you have been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of _

_the most prestigious schools in Europe specializing in the teaching of magic. The term _

_starts on September the first, the train which will take you to school departs platforn 9 _

_and 3/4 at exactly 11:15. Enclosed are your train ticket, and list of necessary supplies. _

__

_ Sincerely, _

__

_ ** Minerva Magonagal, deputy headmistress**_

Andromeda dropped the letter on the floor, picking up the envelope to check if it was really

meant to be for her. The person in the letter had the same last name, but surely this was not

intended for her. She was no witch! These people were either playing an elaborate prank, or

were simply daft. Coming up from behind, Andy sensed her mother bending down and picking

up the letter. Andy, meanwhile, examined the envelope it had arrived in, sure enough it was

adressed to her, in heavy purple lettering. It even stated which bedroom she lived in. There was

no stamp on the letter, causing Andy to wonder how it had been edlivered.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"I don't understand. What is Hogwarts? And why do they think that I'm a witch?"

"Well, I don't really know. I had an idea that something like this might happen." Her mother

trailed off, lost in thought, twidling her short brown hair around and around her fingure.

"Mom?!"

"Yes? Oh, sorry. Darling, I was hoping this day would never come, I put this off as long as

possible, but it has come, as I always suspected it would, and I now regret not having told you

earlier. I am going to tell you a story now, and I do not want you to interupt, otherwise I will

stop and that will be the end of it." Andy hardly felt that this was the appropriate time for a story,

but she sat down on the counter stool to listen anyway. "There was once a young wizard, he was

from a prominent, well know, wizarding family. It had always been expected of im that he would

marry a woman of equally high station, continuing the family line and increasing the families

stature. Unfortunately, this young man had other plans. He did not agree with his parents, or the

groups he had become involved in. Those groups were the death eaters. Your father, Regulus

Black was that man. He had fallen in love with a woman who represented everything that the

Death Eaters hated. I was a muggle, non magical person, and the sole purpose of the Death

Eaters was to destroy the muggle population, as well as all wizards who were not pure bloods.

"Your father left the group of death eaters and disappeared for seven years. We had no

contact with his brother or parents. We were married and blessed with you. Unfortunately, our

happiness was not destined to last, for the Death Eaters tracked him down and murdered him,

after first killing my parents by causing a highway accident. Since then, we have gone into hiding.

I changed our last name again, your true name is Andromeda Black, not Andy Glenn. Because

your father was a wizard, I thought there was a high chance that you might be too. When the

letters from school started coming, I was almost possitive. I am very sorry for not having told

you this before, you were so young and I was afraid that you might say something about it to one

of your friends. If you had, we would have been located again, and they would have taken you

from me too."

"What about the miscarriage? Was that them too?" Asked Andromeda, her voice slightly

choked due to the lump that had just risen in her throat.

"There was never any evidence of foul play, although it is entirely possible. The Death

Eaters know no bounds, they are filled with hatred, fear, and anger. They are evil people who

cannot be controlled." How was her mother saying all this so calmly? She was talking about it

as if it had happend to someone else a long time ago, not to herself.

"Are they still around now? If I go to Hogwarts, can I use my real name? Or will I still be in

hiding?"

"You may use whatever name you wish, if you decide to attend the school."

"What do you mean, if? Of course I'm going." Andy said, standing up from her stool and

picking up her letter, shoving it back into the torn envelope.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into here, Andy. Magic is dangerous, and

these people are not like us." Cautioned Mrs. Balck/Glenn.

"How would you know? Who are you to critisize them? You married one!"

"Listen, I know you're upset right now, and I am sorry, alright? Listen, why don't you think

about it? Give it time. Are you ure you're ready to leave? What about your friends? It would be

an entirely different lifestyle if you left for Hogwarts."

"I realize that, thank you." Andy left her mother, she felt bad, and she did see the logic

behind her mothers descision not to tell her about her magical herritage, but she was upset too.

She had gone her entire life thinking that she was a freak, a loser, and that she was a totally

different person from whom she actually was. How was that supposed to make her feel? Her

entire life so far had been a lie. _Personally, I welcome the opportunity to recreate myself, _

_who knows, maybe the guys at Hogwarts will be worth my time._ Suddenly, vision of hot

guys conjuring roses out of nowhere filled Andy's head. She saw herself marching down the halls

of Howgarts, waving a wand with bubbles streaming out of it. _Yes, I will go to this school, _

_and my mom will have to live with my descision, just as I had to live with hers._


	2. A Shopping Expedition

Chapter 2

A Shopping Expidition

And so, Andy found herself walking down the streets of London with her mother, searching

for the place where she was supposed to locate all of the things on her list. Pointing to a pub

between a bookstore and a little boutique, Andy suggested they try there.

"Where honey? I doubt the bookstore owners know where Diagon Alley is."

"No no no no, I'm talking about the pub, I just saw a weird looking woman walk in there,

and there was a man in a cloak, I think it looks promising."

"I don't see anything darling, what time did you go to sleep last night?"

"I'm not dreaming mother, come on, just follow me." Andy led the way up to the entrance to

the Leaky Cauldron, although she did not know what it was called at the time. When they

entered Andy knew that she had been right, this was deffinately a wizarding shop. She

approached the counter, ignoring the stares of all of the other customers.

"Excuse me sir?" She said politely, adressing a bald old man behind the counter who was

filling a mug with a steaming, foaming liquid.

"Yes miss? How can I be of service?"

"Well, I was looking for Diagon Alley, you see, I'm going to be a first year at Hogwarts,

and I am not sure of how to puchase the required items." She said clearly and sweetly.

"Oh, deary me, come with me, I'll show you. And this is your mother I presume? Yes, must

be, follow me madame." He led them out back and produced a long stick. He tapped the bricks

and then, to Andromedas utter astonishment, the bricks shifted and moved, sliding apart to

reveal what must be Diagon Alley. It was a long, wide alleyway lined with the most colorful and

interesting shops imaginable. Andy and her mother thanked the man and started off down the

streets.

"Oh, mother look over there! And there. Oh, look there mommy!" Andy ran up and down

streets, staring and pointing at everything. It was all Mrs. Glenn could do to keep up. The first

stop they made was to a bank, which was easily located after the first person had pointed it out.

It was called Gringotts, and was easily the biggest building in Diagon Alley. Its bright white

marble sides stood out in the daylit streets. Andy ran to the building and marched up the steps,

stopping to read the first line of the poem that warned her against the sin of steeling.

"Enter, stranger, but take heed, of what awaits the sin of greed." By this point in the poem,

Andy lost interest, running up the steps to enter the bank. Lined up at the desks, balancing

precious stones on scales, and counting large golden coins were goblins. Andy knew they were

goblins at once, they story book descriptions were actually wuite accurate.

"Excuse me, my name is Andromeda Black-Grenn (she had solved the problem by

hyphenating for the time being) and I need to exchange som currency."

"Yes, that could be arranged." Said a soft slow voice from the area around her naval.

"Follow me to this desk please." When the goblin she had been speaking to stepped behing

the counter he was taller that herself. Assumably there was some kind of platfor back there.

Mrs. Black-Grenn approached the counter more cautiously, opening her purse as she went.

"Darling, all I have if 100 pounds, if that isn't enough I'll go back into the city and get more

from a machine." She handed the money to the goblin, who gave her the appropriate amount of

what Andy learned were called galleons and sickles and knuts in return. The money was strange

to Andy, but the pocketed it none the less. Her mother and herself energed into the sunlight

laiden with large gold hubcaps and tiny marble sized knuts.

"So, where shall we go first?" Andy said, looking around the streets. "Oh! Let's go here

mum, it said I needed robes on my supply list, this looks like as good a place as any."

"After you." Replied her mother, struggling to keep up with her over excited daughter in the

crowds. The two went inside Madame Malcolms Robes for all Occasions and waited to be

tended to.

"Hello deary, first time at Hogwarts? Let's get you settled right up here. This year you need

three sets of normal robes and a set of dress robes, yes? Let me get you fitted for the regular

set, and then we can talk style and color for the dress robes." Andy did not respond, she was

very greatful that this woman knew the routine and did not require Andy to talk. Her robes were

fitted and made in only a matter of 15 minutes. Then Andy followed Madame Malcolm into the

other room, where she saw all types of colors and designs of dress robes. "Now dear,

personally, I think you would look nice in a red fabric, it would bring out the tints in your lips and

hair." Andy fliced her hair, feeling proud of her thick auburn curls. People always complemented

her hair, and that was the feature she was most proud of.

"Alright, I like red. Would you happen to know what time of year we're supposed to be

wearing this in?"

"As a matter of fact, I believe that these robes are for the anual winter ball." Madame

Malcolm said, bustling around the room and gathering patterns and fabric samples. The next half

our was spent happily selecting fabrics, Andy ended up with a scarlet velvet material, and

patters, she went with a this strapped v-neck cut. When the dress was finished Andy tried it on.

It clung to her nicely and fell to her knees, flaring slightly at the bottom.

"Oh, thank you so much, it's lovely!" Exclaimed Andy, twirling in front of the mirror. She

exited the store a few minutes a later carrying her parsels. "So mother, where to now?"

"Well, while you were getting fitted I saw a nice looking bookstore down the street. Let's

go there."

"Alright, sounds good to me, then we need to get my peuter cauldron, potions supplies from

the apothacary, and wand." Read Andy from her list, quivering in anticipation of getting a wand.

"Oh, and it also says I can get a pet, can I pretty please get a kitten mommy?"

"I might get you a pet if you are good, we'll see." Andy smiled and followed her mother

down the street to the bookstore. They entered the store during a lull apparently, because the

moment they walked in they were surounded by shop assistants.

"First year at Hogwarts? I see, well, let's see here, you'll need this, and this, here, better

take this too." Said a pimply shop assistant, while the others scrambled around the store

thrusting books at her. Andy was holding a mountain of books as her mom checked them off on

the supply list. They paid and exited the store, feeling slightly overwhelmed, and loaded down

with two full bags of books.

"Alright, now comes wand time?" Asked Andy, hopefully.

"No, I think we should get the cauldron and potion supplies first." Declared her mother.

Andy followed her into the apothacary, which was dusty and silent. The only occupant was an

old man standing behind the counter and sweating profusly. He mopped his brow with a

hankerchief and asked what he could do for them. Andy read him the list of necessary supplies

and bought a cauldron. She left this store greatful to be returning to the sunlight and warmth of

Diagon Alley.

"Now can we get my wand?" Asked Andy, almost falling under all her parsels.

"Yes, lets see if we can find it. Excuse me, excuse me sir?" Asked her mother tapping a man

on the shoulder. "Where might I purchase a wand?"

"Just down the street there, Olivanders is the best for wands, thats the only place you can

get a half decent wand."

"Thank you." They walked down the street and soon found Olivanders. In the window,

sitting on a purple plush pillow, was what Andy assumed was a wand. It was rather

disappointing. She had expected the wands to be colorfull and pretty, not just sticks of wood.

They entered the shop, ringing bells as they did so.

"Hello." Said a low voice in front of Andy. She squinted in the half light to find the speaker,

it was an old man in glasses. He was so close to her that their nses were almost touching, Andy

shrieked and stepped back, dropping her parsels. "How may I be of assistance? A first year at

Hogwarts? And what's your name?"

"Andy, Andy Glenn. I'm a first year, and I need to buy a wand."

"Glenn, you're lying." He said, moving closer and peering at her.

"No I'm not." How could he accuse her of lying?

"Really? I could have sworn..." He trailed off, sounding confused.

"What?" Asked Andy eagerly. Who was this man? Did he know her father?

"Well, it's just, I thought you were a Black. You aren't related to Regulus of Sirius, are

you?"

"Yes, Regulus is my father."

"Ahh. I knew it! Well, let me see, he had a maple wand, rather thick and stiff, filled with a

dragons heart string, 8 and 1/2 inches."

"How do you know that?"

"I remember every wand I've ever sold Andromeda. Every single one." How did he know

her name? She had told him that her name was Andy! "Now, let's get cracking." He ran

excitedly around the room while a tape measure measured her arm length from wrist to elbow,

fingure to shoulder, shoulder width, elbow to shoulder, finguretip to fingure tip, etc. He came

back with boxes and boxes of wands, presenting each one to her in turn. Andy did not know

what she was supposed to be dooing with the wands, and she just held them all until he snatched

them out of her hands. Two hours later she had still not found a wand, and the pile of tried

wands was mounting ever higher. "I have only one wand left Andromeda, and if this one does

not work, I do not know what I will tell you." He lifted the wand from its box and presented it to

her. It was the same as all the other wands, nothing happened. "I have no other wands, Andy."

"What about the one in the window?"

"That was the first wand I ever made, it has been on display in that window since I opened

buisness, still, it is worth a try." He went to the window display cabinet, opening the latch and

taking out the wand. He held it out to her, "12 and three quarter inches, swishy, made with the

tail hair of the single most beautiful female unicorn ever to walk on this earth. If this wand does

not suit you, I do not know what will." Andy stared at the wand, it was made of ebony wood,

she knew the look of each wood well by now. It was pitch black, except for a single streak

down the side, which was silver. She hesitated, saying a silent prayer that something would

happen, and picked up the wand.

* * *

**Authors Note: Hey guys, just a few things. Firstly, I didn't give the mom a name because she is distinguished by her relationships with her husband and daughter. Secondly, Andys mom couldnt see the leaky cauldron because she's a muggle. Sorry that it's a lot like harry potter so far, I'm waiting to see where the characters take me, hopefully away from the Harry Potter story.**


	3. Leaving

Chapter 3

Leaving

Andy lifted the wand, feeling a surge of heat and power in her arm. On impulse she raised

the wand, pointing into a corner. A flash of red light erupted from the tip, shattering a chair in the

shadows of the shelves. Andy's mother woke with a start from her nap. Mr. Olivander siezed

Andys arm just in time before she shattered anything else. He took the wand to the front of the

room, muttering to himself. Andy was still elated minutes later as she walked down the street,

carrying all of her books and other supplies. Andy and her mother decided to go to the Magical

Menagerie to pick Andy a pet. As they entered the store, it only took seconds for Andy to

make a strong connection with one of the kittens. She looked into the dimly lit cages and tanks,

but was uninterested in anything she saw. There, right in front of her, was a midnight black kitted

that would fit in the palm of her hand. It leaped onto her shoulder licking her face and digging its

claws into her shoulder. Andy turned her head to its fullest extent, looking ito the gray eyes of

the frisky kitten. The kitted licked her nose. Giggling, Andy vowed to have this kitten. She

presented it to her mother, who, although skeptically, allowed her to purchase the pet.

By this time there was hardly any money left, even with the money her mother had picked

up while her robes were being fitted. Andy walked out of the store, now, in addition to

packages, she had a kitted in her arms. They entered the three broomsticks and approached the

counter, looking to sit down.

"Are you two intending to travel back tonight?" Asked the balding bartender.

"We were, yes. Why?"

"It's far too late now, tell you what, because you two are knew here abouts, I'll let you have

a room. I also have an old trunk you can use if you need one."

"Really? That is so kind of you." Replied Mrs. Black/Glenn, Andy looked at her mother as

she adopted a high pitched, girlish voice and became stary eyes. Was she flirting with this old

man? He actually isn't that old, maybe he'll be good for mum. Andy went into room 11 and

dumped her packages on the bed. She took her wand out again and looked at it, it was so

beautiful. She lifted it again, and waved it in the air. As she did so it began to emit red sparks.

Again, that irresistable surge of power came again, causing her to want to destroy things, to use

magic. She put the wand down, hearing a knock on her door. It was Tom, the bartender, with

his trunk.

"Thought you might want this, I just dug it up from the attick. It might be a little dirty, but it's

better than nothing."

"Thank you very much, you're so kind." A little dirty was a major understatement. Andy

took a towel from the bathroom and wet it, wiping the entire trunk out. When she removed the

towel, it had gone from white to brown. Andy loaded her cauldron into the bottom, and put her

robes inside it. She loaded her books into the other half of the trunk, stacking them neatly. She

put her potions supplies on top and closed the trunk. She just needed to get home and put in

shoes, socks, underwear, bedding, and hygenic items. Other than that, she was all set. Andy lay

down on her bed, and realized how hungry she was. She picked up her kitten, whom she had

named Merlin after the only wizard she had ever heard of besides Morgana, and headed

downstairs for some food.

Tom and her mother were sitting at a table together, talking in hushed voices. Her mother

was looking stary eyes again. Andy rolled her eyes and approached the two.

"Sorry, er, excuse me?"

"Yes, how may I help you?" Asked Tom, standing up and putting his apron back on.

"I was wondering if I could have something to eat."

"You two haven't eaten? It's well past 9:00 by now. I'll fix you something, just you sit right

down there."

"Thank you very much." said Andy, sitting obediantly. After an hour had passed, Andy was

comfortably full. She stood up, kissing her mother on the cheek and going upstairs to sleep. At

10:00 the next morning Andy rolled off of the bed. Merlin hissed and jumped on her head.

"Oh, you're up, good. I think we should go home. We have a lot of shopping to do in the

Muggle world as well if you are to leave for Hogwarts in a month." Andy and her mother spent

the next weeks outfitting her for boarding school. She bought bedding, sationary, monogrammed

towels, a laundry bag, lots of underpants and socks, and was finally ready to go.

Andy spent the last few days of summer with her friends, who were all back. She did not

tell them that she was a witch, or that her father had bee a wizard murdered by a deadly society.

She told them that she was going to boarding school because her mother thought she would do

well with more discipline, that this was a punishment for her acting out in school. They saw every

movie out that summer in the last few days of break, and spent hours hanging around people

houses, enjoying eachothers company.

"I promise, I'll write you as soon as I get there." Andy said the night before the train was

scheduled to leave.

"The second you get there?" Asked a tearful Shelli.

"The very second, I'll even write the letter o nthe train."

"You better." Said Shelli, giving her a hug and walking out the door. Shelli lived in the

appartemnt across the street from Andy's appartement, and the two girls had been friends since

the first day of pre school. Shelli was always there for her, and Andy would miss her more than

anyone else when she went away. Two months ago, nothing had seemed better than going to

Hogwarts, but now, with the date drawing ever nearer, she was starting to get butterflies in her

stomach. _What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm a loser because I never knew _

_about magic before. Maybe I shouldn't have named Merlin merlin, will that make them _

_think I'm a stupid little kid who doesn't know anything?_

Andy went to bed early that night, after taking a shower. She woke up early the following

morning and paced her room, checking and double checking that everything was in her trunk. At

9:30 her mother woke up and made berakfast. One of the benefits of having a mother who

compulsavely overate was that she always made a lot of good food. Not to mention here was

never a shortage of snacks, making her house the popular place to hang out after school. Andy

sighed, brushing her hair. It was 10:14, and she had been counting down the minutes until they

would leave. The train left platform 9 and 3/4 at 11:15, and they wanted to be there 15 minutes

early. It took 15 minutes to get there, so hey were leaving at quarter of 11. Andy threw some of

her own books into her trunk, along with some blank journals. She had arranged her quills and

inks by color and size. She was excited, but also nervous. She paced her room biting the nails of

one hand and storking Merlin with the other.

She finished brushing her hair and threw the brush into her trunk. There was a section

devoted to bath products, her robe, monogramed towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, and hair

scrunchies. Andy flopped onto her bed, looking at her watch. Andy counted to one hundred

slowly and closed her eyes. _Calm down girl, it's okay. You'll be just fine, it'll work out _

_well, you'll do fine. Calm down._ Andy shrieked into her pillow, venting some of her nerves.

She went back into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of twizzlers, she had picked up some of her

mothers eating habbits. Realizing what she was doing Andy dropped the bag and stepped onto

the treadmill Andy's mother had bought in an effort to get back into shape. that had lasted all of

a week. Andy turned the speed up to 6 miles an hour, increasing the slope. She ran faster and

faster, pushing herself for more. After 20 minutes she was sweating profusly, without enough

time to take a shower. _That was dumb of you Andy. Way to make an impression, show up _

_on your first day looking sweaty and disgusting. Smart move. That will deffinately help _

_you make friends. I'm sure the first thing they will think is wow, that girl is cool, lets go _

_hang out with the girl who doesn't care enough about herself to take a shower!_ Willing

her mind to shut up she got off the treadmill and entered the bathroom, splashing water on her

face. She looked around the bathroom for anything she might have forgotten. There was nothing

of course, she had already pased around the entire appartement 50 times at least. Andy looked

at the face of her watch, 10:47, okay, time to go now.

"MOM!!!!" she yelled.

"I'm right here, don't yell like that, you'll wake the dead." Andy had never liked that

expression, firstly, she would not wake all of the dead people by screaming, many of them had

rotted by now or were burried too far away from her house for her yelling to effect them at all.

Secondly, if the dead were asleep, they would not be dead. Andy and her mother went

downstairs and flagged a taxi. They loaded her trunk into trunk of the taxi and drove to Kings

Cross Station. Andy's mother had to get to work, she had already take too much time off as it

was. She hugged Andy goodbye and kissed her, making her promise to write her the moment

she arrived at Hogwarts. It wasn't until the taxi had left again, with her mother, and she was

standing alone with a trunk she could barely life that she realized he had no idea how to get to

platform 9 and 3/4. She looked around, there wasn't anyone wearing robes, and no one stood

out as a witch or wizard, not that she knew what one would look like or recognize one if she

saw one. She took her ticket out of her purse and approached a policman.

"Excuse me sir, I was looking for platform 9 and 3/4." Andy asked the man in the blue

uniform, showing him her ticket.

"There is no platform 9 and 3/4, are you messing with me?" He asked, looking at her

suspiciously, but not touching the ticket.

"Well, what about the train that leaves at 11:15?" Asked Andy persistantly.

"You _are_ messing with me, you little punk." The policeman said, growing increasingly

impatient.

"I'm not." Andy assured him. "See? Look at my ticket." Before the policeman took her

ticket a young man who looked to be about 15 came up.

"There you are silly! We were looking all over for you!" Andy's heart lept, whoever this boy

was, he was hott, and he also had a trunk just like her own! "I'm dreadfully sorry officer, my

sister is a little wrong in her upper story. We're taking her to stay with my grandmother by the

sea, the doctors said that would be good for her."

"Oh, I see. I'm very sorry." Said the policeman, not lokoing at Andy indulgently.

"We're very sorry to have wasted your time officer." Said the handsome boy as he pulled

her away. When they were out of earshot the boy adressed Andy. "What the hell did you think

you were doing? Platform 9 and 3/4 is a secret, obviously muggles don't know about it! You

can't go on about it to everyone you see. Are you stupid?" He had said muggles! And he had

also mentioned platform 9 and 3/4, he must go to Hogwarts as well, thank goodness.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize. How do I get to the platform?"

"You walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 of course, what did you think

you did?"

"I didn't know. I'm a first year." Andy said, looking into his grey eyes. He really was

handsome.

"Didn't your parents tell you?" He asked suspiciously.

"No. My mother is a muggle, and she left. My dad died when I was 7."

"Oh, so you're a mud blood?" Said the boy in a mixture of contempts and disappointement. __

_Why wasn't she offended by that? most girls get all offended and march away when I _

_insult them like that, obviouslt this one is of higher class than mud blood Granger._

"What's a mud blood?" Asked Andromeda, unaware of the fact that he was insulting her to

the highest degree.

"Someone who has muggle parents."

"Well, what do you qualify someone whos father was a pure blood from a good family, but

whos mother is a muggle?"

"A mudblood is what I call them, although I suppose since you are a member of the

pureblood family you are slightly better than the rest." The boy seemed ginuinly puzzled by this

question.

"And why does it matter? I mean, if we can all do magic, then why does it matter what kind

of family we have?" She asked innocently.

"Are you kidding? Of course it makes a dfference." He said, as if she were commiting

blasphemy.

"How?" Said Andy curiously.

"It just does." He said, flustering and obviously trying to come up with a better answer. __

_Now that she mentions it, why does it make a difference, Dad never got around to _

_explaining that part of it._ "Come on, I'll show you how to get onto the train I suppose, even

if you are a mud blood."

"Thank you, I'm sorry, but what's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy. And you?" He looked at her, to see if she would snicker at his name as

everyone else did every time he said it. Her facial expression did not change in the slightest, she

just nodded and told him her name. _I like her already, and she's quite pretty, even if she is a _

_first year. Maybe she doesn't count as a mud blood if she also had pure blood, he would _

_have to ask his father. _At this thought his stomach clenched, his father. _If I ever see him _

_again, who knows where he is right now? Besides, it's not like he would come how to mum _

_and me anyway._

"Andromeda Black. But all my friends call me Andy." She extended her freshly manicured

and lotioned hand. It was very small in his large one. You know what they say, big hands big

feet, big feet big shoes...

"Well Andy," _wait, did she just say her name was Andy Black? As in the Black _

_family? Maybe she did qualify as a pure blood if she was really a Black, but maybe she _

_meant a different Black family. But if she was a Black, didn't that make her related to _

_Sirius and Harry Potter in a way too?_ "follow me, I'll show you to the train. Here, let me

help you with your trunk." He lifted the trunk on top of his own cart and started to wheel it in

front of him. As he lifted it she saw his muscles ripple under his shirt. "Jeez, what do you have in

here, bricks?" He asked, smiling at her. He had perfect pearly wite teeth. Andy couldn't help but

try to remember whether or not she had brushed her teeth that morning. She ran her tongue over

her own plaque covered teeth and folowed him through the crowded Kings Cross Station.

"Here, since this is your first time through, come with me." Andy smiled now, regardles of her

plaque covered teeth. He was so sweet!

"Thanks. And thank you for saving me from the policeman."

"Oh, it's no problem at all." He said, brushing off her thanks. They walked through the

barrier to platform 9 and 3/4.

* * *

**Authors Note: Sorry, I just felt the need to throw Malfoy in there, I know he's a bad guy, but I feel like he needs to be redeemed. There must be a good guy hidden in there somewhere...maybe...we'll have to see...read and review as usual!!**

* * *


	4. On the Hogwarts Express

* * *

**Authors Note:This chapie might be a little shorter than the others, but that's only because I needed to divide it up from the next one...anyway, read and review as usual!**

**P.S. Disclaimer: (I didn't know I had to have one of these until now because I assumed it was obvious that I own none of J.K. Rowlings stuff!) So, to make it official, I own none of JKs glorious characters or locations, I wish I were that creative and talented! She is my inspiration only.**

* * *

Chapter 4

On the Hogwarts Express

Andy held Draco's hand and they walked through the barrier together. As soon as they

were though he dropped her hand and took her trunk off his cart, leaving it on the ground. He

went over with his cart and joined a huddle of boys his age, without even looking at her, or

offering to help her load her trunk onto the train. Andy siged, shaking her head. He was cute, but

apparently a little self conscious none the less. Andy struggled to drag her trunk over to the train,

but was not strong enough. She managed to lift it, but wound up dropping it on her toe.

"Hey, you look like you need help."

"Yes, I do. Thank you so much!" She said, standing back as a boy with messy black hair

lifted her trunk up. All the boys here were so tall! Andy was a sucker for height, sighing she

followed the strong guy lifting her trunk to the train. He hoisted it into one of the overhead racks

and turned to face her. He was much taller than herself, probabally pushing 6 feet, but he was

very skinny, almost unhealthily so.

"Thank you, I probabally would have missed the train without your help." Andy said

laughing and pushind her curls out of her joyful blue eyes. "I owe you one!"

"No problem, what's your name? Your a first year I assume?"

"Yes, I'm Andromeda Black, but everyone calls me Andy. And you are?"

"Harry Potter." He paused as if expecting for her to say something. She did nothing, just

stared at him. When he said nothing and just started at her expectantly she started to flush.

"I'm sorry, should I know you?"

"Of course you should!" Said a bushy haired freckly girl coming up behind her. She looked

bookish and a little nerdy, but kind. "This is Harry Potter." Nothing registered on Andys face

still. "Are you telling me that you've never heard of Harry Potter? Everyone has heard of Harry

Potter!"

"Sorry." Andy said, liking the girl less the more she talked. She was slightly annoying, with

her high pitched voice and no-it-all way of saying things.

"He's the boy who deffeated You-Know-Who." Said a really tall boy who towered over

Harry. He had red hair, freckles, and a permanent red flush around his ears. He was bending

over to compencate for his height, but he only succeded in becoming more noticable.

"Sorry, I'm affraid I don't know who, who are you reffering to?" Andy asked. These

wizarding folks were wierd.

"Ron, would you please say the name? Hermione and I both do." Harry said, speaking at

last. "You don't know who Lord Voldemort is?"

"No, who?" Andy said, _why couldn't they just tell her what the hell they were _

_jabbering about?_

"He's the most evil man who ever lived. He and his death eaters killed hundreds of people

just because they were muggles." Ron said enthusiastically.

"Oh, the death eaters. I know who they are!" Andy said, glad to finally have something to

say other than 'who?'

"You know about death eaters? But you said you didn't know who Lord Voldemort was."

Harry said.

"I **don't** know who Lord Voldethingy is." Said Andy, not likeing the patronizing way they

were speaking to her.

"He was the leader of the death eaters." Hermione stated. "And Harry defeated him by

rebounding a curse back to Voldemort himself, only it didn't kill him, because he's back now,

and so are the death eaters." This news shocked Andy, she should not have come. They would

find her. _Why did I use my fathers name? Why couldn't I have stuck with Glenn?_ Andy

backed up and sat down on one of the chairs.

"They're back?" Andy said, gasping for breathe, and turning white as a ghost.

"Of course, it's been in the papers all summer. Who are you?" Said Hermione, or at least,

that was what Harry had reffered to her as. "I'm Hermione Granger, this is Ron Weasley," she

pointed to the red haired boy, "and Harry Potter, who I assume you've met. What's your name,

and why don't you know about the return of Voldemort?"

"My name is Andromeda Black, but my friends call me Andy. My mother was a muggle

and my father was killed by the death eaters when I was 7. I did not know anything about

Hogwarts or magic until two moths ago when I got my Hogwarts letter. That's when I found out

about my dad being murdered by Voldemorts henchmen for leaving their ranks." Andy was still

pale, and was speaking very quietly and slowly. Harry sat down beside her, knowing better than

either of the others what it was like to have lost someone you love. Hermione sat down on the

other side of her, and Ron took the seat across from all three.

"So you really didn't know who Harry was?" She asked, skeptical. "And you had never

heard of Voldemort?" Ron shuddered in his seat as she said the name. Andy felt no draft, but

possibly it was something over on his side only. "Here, I'll give you one of my books to read,

you can't go around uninformed like this. You should really read the paper more often."

"Shut up, Hermione, she just found out she was a witch a few moths ago. Give her a break

she just found out that her fathers murderers came back." Harry said, giving her an evil look.

"Alright, alright, well, here's the book. And I hope you get sorted into Griffyndor." _I hope _

_not, if that's the house this girl is in,_ Andy thought. Andy stood up taking the book and

exiting the compartement, she wanted to be alone with her thoughts right now.

_ "Harry, did you here that girls name?" Whispered Hermione as the girl left the _

_compartement. _

__

_ "Yes, yes I did." He replied, still looking out the door where the lovely Andy had left. _

__

_ "So, what do you think? Did Sirius ever mention having a daughter?" Hermione _

_whispered eagerly, moving into Andy's abandoned seat. _

__

_ "I'm not thinking of Sirius." Harry muttered. "What?" "Remember last summer? _

_Sirius had a younger brother, who was a member of the death eaters. Remeber what _

_Sirius told us?" Harry asked. _

__

_ "No." Hermione said, trying to think. _

__

_ "Really?" Snorted Ron. "That's a first." _

__

_ "Shut up Ron." Hermione said, looking back at Harry. _

__

_ "He told us that his brother got murdered because he had triend to leave the death _

_eaters." Harry said, looking at Hermione. Their eyes met, and it all clicked. They both _

_nodded. _

__

_ "So, wait, I don't get it." _

__

_ "Oh Ron!" Hermione said, exasperated. She motioned for him to come over and she _

_bent forward to explain it to him. _

No such luck. Andy was not going to be allowed to be alone with her thoughts, she was

going to have to suffer the company of superficial jabbering wannabees. They were insufferable.

She had accidentally wandred into a compartement filled with 3rd year Ravenclaws, and all they

talked about were boys, boys, boys, with the occasional interuption of makeup and hair. Making

an excuse about needing the powder room and made her escape. She paced the corridor,

searching for an empty room.

There was no empty room, so she entered one where the only occupants seemed as shell

shocked as she was herself. These must be first years.

"Hi, I'm Andromeda, but everyone calls me Andy, what are your names?"

"I'm Brittni, I'm a first year." Said a petite african american girl whose hair was in corn rows.

"Me too." Said Andy.

"And I'm Rachel." Said a tall, busty girl with hair as black as a ravens wing. She had eyes so

dark they were almost black as well. Her hair stretched down her back in a loose braid that was

falling out. Her cheeks were flushed and some strands stuck to her face, making it look like she

had just been outside in the cold. "I'm also a first year."

"I'm Angela." This voice was timid and small, just like the girl who spoke them. She was

even more petite than Brittni, with pale blonde curls that fell to her shoulders. "I'm in the first year

too. Nice to make your aquaintance Andromeda." _I already don't like this girl, what doesn't _

_she get about 'everyone calls me Andy'?_

"Hey, my names Daphne." This girl was average height, and skinny. She had rosy cheeks

and light brown hair that fell strait to her shoulders. Andy sat down next to Rachel and started

out the window.

"So, where are all of you from?" Asked Rachel to the entire group, but facing Andy.

"I live in London." Said Andy, "with my mum. I didn't know about Hogwarts until I got my

letter, I'm a half blood, but my dad died when I was 7, so I never knew about magic."

"Well, your story is much more interesting than mine, both my parents are wizards, although

I'm by no means a pureblood, so I've grown up with magic." Said Rachel.

"Me, I'm the same as Andy in that I never knew 'bout magic. Both my parents are alive, but

they're buth muggles." Declared Angela.

"Oh, so you're a mud blood?"

"You did not just say that!" Said Brittni. "That's so rude, you do not say that to people."

Angela's round blue eyes were welling up wth tears.

"I'm really sorry, a boy said it to me this morning, I didn't realize that it was rude. I honestly

didn't mean to offend you." Brittni, who had stood up in outrage when Andy first spoke, sat

back down.

"A boy said that to you? Today? On the train? That is so rude!"

"Yeah, only I didn't care because I didn't realize it was mean. Now I know that he's a jerk

though, and at least now I know it's not acceptable, right? No hard feelings Angela? Will you

forgive me?"

"Of course. Everyone makes mistakes." She said, wiping away the delicate little tear that

had run down her cheek. The girls spent the rest of the journey becoming aquaianted, and Andy

actually didn't mind their company. All of them except Angela at least. She found out about

houses, and how they were going to be sorted into a group. Rachel, who was Andy's favorite of

the girls and much more intelligent and mellow than any of the others, was sure she was going to

be in Slytherin, that was the house both of her parents had been in. Andy hoped she would be

with Rachel, the two girls bonded over their common hatred of Angela.

Rachel had grown up in the city, her parents were divorced, but unlike Andy she lived

primarily with her father. Rachel liked to spend her time in coffe houses and competing in poetry

slams, she was, in Andys mind, one cool cat. The girls all changed into their Hogwarts robes,

Andy shivering in anticipation. They stepped off the train after listening to an announcement over

the megaphone telling them to leave all of their luggage on the train. Andy, greatful that she

would not need to drag that thing again, walked out into the night next to Rachel.


	5. A New Beginning

Chapter 5

A New Beginning

"First years, first years over here!" Came a cry that could be heard above all the chattering

from the direction of a lantern bobbing above the crowds. Andy followed the lantern, finally

catching sight of the biggest man in the world. He looked ferocious and scary, with a huge beard

and little beady eyes. He was three times the hieght and girth of a normal man, dwarfing all the

first years. He directed him into boats that could fit four people each, Andy and Rachel were

joined by Daphne and Angela, as Angela got into their boat, Andy Rachel and Daphne all

exchanged exasperated looks. She was so annoying.

They rowed across the lake in the dark. Andy had yet to catch her first glimpse of

Hogwarts, but she got it as she rowed under the hanging branches of a weeping willow. There,

at the top of a hill, was a large stone castle, complete with turetts and gargoyles. It was beautiful,

Andy knew from the first sight that she was going to love it at Hogwarts. The bearded giant led

them to the front door, and knocked with his giant fist on the hard oak pannels. A stern looking

woman whose hair was pulled into a tight bun answered.

"Oh, you've brought the first years, I see, alright, good work Hagrid, you lot, follow me."

She looked cross and strict, Andy thought, as she hung back in the crowd. She did not want to

be near this woman. they were led onto the stahe facing the entire school in front of the faculty.

There was a three legged stool sitting on the center of the stage, on top was a ripped, torn, dirty

hat. Just as Andy was thinking that this was some sort of ridiculous joke, the hat began to talk.

"Every year on the first day

It is my task to choose

The houses in which you shall stay

Each special house with different views

Brave Gryfindor in boldness does place the largest stock

While Hufflepuff for kindess twas

The most important lot

If Slytherin you were to ask

Which quality was best

His answer would come fast

Shrewdness comes before the rest

To Ravenclaw the cleverest

And those with sharpest wit

Were valued above all others

And in her house would fit

So my task it is

To divide you up

And although I must admit

That I feel this is not right

It is my long held duty still

To not put up a fight

So sit your arse down on this stool

And place me on your head

Don't think that I am a fool

Or else you will regret"

The great hall burst into applause and the stern looking woman stepped forward.

"Applebee, Angela." She called. Angela stepped forward and put the hat on her head. She

sat for a second before the hat called out,

"Hufflepuff!" On of the two middle tables bust into applause and Angela stood up and

walked to the table. The sorting continued. Andy recognized some people from the train, but

most faces were new to her. She watched with interest as

"Andrews, Brittni," was sorted into Gryfindor where Andy spotted the puffy haired

Hermione Granger. Imediatly proceding Daniel Anders, who had been sorted into Slytherin, the

woman called, "Black, Andromeda." It did not register with Andy that this meant her, she was

used to her teachers calling her Andy Glenn, not Andromeda Black. Whispers went around the

room as people looked around. The woman cleared her throat, "Black, Andromeda." She

repeated. Rachel shoved her forward and Andy stumbled over to the stool.

"My name is Andy." She muttered to the woman with the list, who either didn't hear, or

ignored the comment.

"_Isn't this interesting, I've never seen a head quite as jumbled as this._" came a voice in

her haed.

"Whose there?" Hissed Andy.

_ "I'm the hat, I am inside your mind. I see courage here, yes, courage to stand up for _

_what you bellieve in, but there is also fear. Fear of what people think about you. What _

_about Hufflepuff eh? No, not Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw? No, that would not fit either. _

_Gryfindor? You would manage quite well there, although something tells me that you _

_should be in Slytherin!"_

The last wod was announced to the entire hall and the table on the far left burst into

applause as she made her way to the table. She saw Draco Malfoy talking to some of his

friends, and purposly sayt at the other end of the bench from him. Relieved that she had been

sorted, she watched the rest of the ceremony.

"Johnnson, Rachel," had barely touched the hat to her head when it declared her a Slytherin.

"De Winter, Daphne," was also announced to be a Slytherin. Both girls sat down next to Andy,

expressing their joy at all being together. Three other girls and seven boys were sorted into

Slytherin as well. The sorting ceremony seemed to drag on for hours as what must have been

200 children were sorted into various houses. Gryfindor, Andy noticed, did not seem to be very

fond of Slytherin. Every time a new sortee made its way to the Slytherin table they were

followed by hisses, but the same went for Gryfindor sotees, who were denounced with low

throated growls. Andy did not participate in this, as it all seemed rather ridiculous to her. It still

had not sunk in that she was a witch and at an academy for witches.

"Good evening students, and welcome back to Hogwarts. I hope you have all had a nice,

relaxing summer with just enough time to forget everything you have learned over the year. To all

the first years, welcome, to the rest of you, welcome back. I'm sure that all of you who have just

been sorted will do your very best to win house points and bring the house cup to your

respective houses. I will say only that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to students of all ages,

as are some 567 items on Mr. Filtchs list of restricted items. He would like me to remind you not

to use dung bombs in the corridors. Now, without further adu," he waved his wand, causing

food to appear on the gold plates.

"Who was that?" Andy whispered to Daphne, who was a pure blood and would obviously

know if anyone did.

"Everyone knows who he is silly, that's professor Dumbledore!"

"Oh." Andy pretended to know who that was for a moment, and then decided to not even

bother. "Who?"

"Don't tell me you've never heard of professor Dumbledore?"

"No, I haven't" Said Andy, her short patience running out. If she was just going to go on

about how she didn't know, rather than just tell her...Andy didn't want to waste her time. She

was sick and tired of people expecting her to know who all of these wizards were!

"He's head of the Wizengamot, Chief Mugwomp, Supreme Warlock, and headmaster here.

Everyone thought he was going to become the Minister of Magic, but he didn't want to leave the

school. He's the only person You-Know-Who ever feared." Andy was glad that she did know

who this time, it would have looked extremely stupid for her to not know who the two most

famous people in the wizarding world were.

Andy tucked into the delicious feast, eating for the first time since breakfast. A few hours

later, the plates cleared and Professor Dumbledore rose again. Silence fell over the hall, only

Draco continued talking, and even he stopped after he realized no one was listening to him.

"Now that we have all taken part in this delicious feast, it is time for bed. First years, follow

your prefects to your common rooms. Lights out in one hour, you want to be fresh for you

classes tomarrow." The three girls, Daphne, Rachel, and Andy all folowed Droco Malfoy down

dark dank staircases until they reached the very bottom of the castle with the other first years,

feeling very self important. He led them to a dead end, and stopped. Whispers traveled amoung

the first years, was this some kind of joke? Was he lost? What was he doing?

"Whiffleshneck." He declared. "All of you firsties, remember that, cause I won't repeat

myself. That's the password to the dormitory, so engrave it into your brains." With that the wall

slid open, revealing a large room. The Slytherin first years marched into the room. There was a

large fireplace, large enough for someone to stand in, filled with green tinted flames. There were

black leather couches, and strait backed chairs surrounding tables that were intended to be used

for study. "Girls rooms are down this staircase to the right, boys to the left. At the bottom of the

stairs you will find several doors with plaques indicating what year they are for. Your trunks have

been moved here for you, lights out in one hour." He grinned, turning around, obviously

dismissing them from his pressence.

Andy and Rachel and Daphne all went down the staircase until it ended and they started

along the corridor Draco had described. They tuned down the corridor and found a door labeld

'First Years'. They opened the door and entered what was to be their dormitory for the next

seven years. Andy quickly found her trunk, it was easy to spot as it was rather ratty and decrepit

compared to the other trunks. She unloaded her books, quills, and parchement into her school

bag, leaving some of her extra quills and inks in her bedside table. Her bed was in the corner of

the room, next to the window and across from the bathroom, the prime location in Andys

opinion. She pulled back the green velvet hangings on her four poster bed revealing a soft silver

flannel comforter and silky silver sheets, the bedding she had bought wuld be a waste of time,

not to mention much less comfortable than these supplied by the school. She left her robes and

other clothing in her trunk, as there was not enough room for all six girls to unpack all of their

clothing. She hung her dress robes in one corner of the massive wardrobe located at the head of

the room. She took her own books and journals out, placing them on her bedside table and sat

down on her bed, tired from the long day of travel.

"Alright, I think that we should all follow Andy's example, this space is too small for us all to

take up a massive amount of room, so let's just hang up out dress robes in the closet and put the

rest of the stuff we want out in our bedside tables. There are drawers in the bathrom too, so we

can divide those up when the other girls come, okay? If we are going to live together happily, we

all need to respect eachothers space, and if you two don't care about respecting eachothers

place, you had better stay out of mine or I might have to freak out." Said Rachel, flopping down

on the bed next to Andy. Daphne's bed was on the other side of the room and two beds over.

"So, what are we going to do about these walls?"

"I have some posters!" Declared a slightly pug faced girl with mouse brown hair upon

entering the room. "I'm Patty Parkinson, Pansy Parkinsons little sister. I like your plan, what's

your name?"

"I'm Rachel Johnson. This is Andromeda Black, call her Andy, this is Daphne de Winter."

"Nice to meet you all. I like your plan, as I said, so that's the plan we're using. As I also

said, I have posters. Anyone else who was clever enough to bring posters, feel free to hang them

up. I knew to bring them because my sister told me to, she said the only thing saving her has

been posters of hott guys on the walls."_ Jeez, this girl is obsesed with her sister, she's _

_mentioned her twice in the first two sentences she's spoken since she got here!_ Andy went

into the bathroom to stake out a drawer. She hung up her monogramed towel on a hook, there

were six, so she assumed every girl ot one, and filled her drawer with her shampoos,

conditioners, soaps, exfoliants, gels, lotions, and all her other toiletries. She did not know what

to do with her towel, as there was no other hook, so she put it back in her trunk. She saw

Rachel enter the bathroom behind her and close the door.

"Please tell me you hate her as much as I do."

"Depends, how much do you hate her?" Replied Andy, laughing, and glad that she had been

so quick to find a kindred spirit. "Um, I'm really glad she's on the other side of the room and

down at the opposite end from you and I. I just wish the room were longer or that there were

sound proof walls separating us from her." Rachel said in a whisper so that Patty Pug face would

not here them.

"Or both." Said Andy, giggling, and almost feeling bad that she was already talking bad

about people behind their backs no the first day.

"She's like a mean and ugly version of Angela." "Am I glad she isn't in our house! I would

have had to kill myself. I hope the other two girls will be halfway decent."

"Yeah me to, let's go meet them, I bet they're here. Hey guys, there are hooks in there, one

for each, and drawers too. Everyone gets one, so make the most of it." Announced Andy as she

exited the bathroom with Rachel.

"Hi, my name is Alex, what's yours?"

"I'm Andy, this is Rachel." Said Andy to the girl with the frizzy brown curls who adressed

her and pointing to Rachel. This girl, although she looked nice, also looked like a major geek.

She had braces, glasses, and the puffiest, frizzies curls Andy had ever seen. They were nothing

like Angelas little angel ringlets, these were frizzes. Andy smiled, trying not to look at Rachel for

fear of lauging, revealing her perfectly strait white teeth, she had never needed braces.

"This is Emily." Said Alex, pointing to the blonde girl next to her. This girl was no geek, she

had the kind of supermodel looks that Andy used to see on women in television adds, except

shrunken down to model kids clothing. She was tall and thin with perfect blonde hair and big

blue eyes. She had rosy cheeks and pink lips and perfect teeth. She had stepped right out of the

pages of one of Andys old books describing the all American teen, except British. As it turned

out, Amily was American, not British. Surprise surprise. She had flown over just to be able to

attend Hogwarts, which was apparently one of the most prestigious schools around. Emily

seemed like a coll kind of kid, once you got past the initial shyness. She had the bed directly

across from Andys and slightly to the side, and Alex had the bed next to her.

The girls spent the next hour bonding and describing their families and how they had

discovered their magical powers. Patty bragged about how she was a pure blood, and that her

older sister had always known that niether of them would be squibs, so she had grown up

knowing that she would attend Hogwarts. Andy kept quiet about her family history, somehow

she did not feel comfortable discussing her father with these girls. Andy, tired of Patty's

company, went unpstairs to write her letter to Shelli. She told her all about the girls on the train,

excet slightly changed the story so that she did not mention any magic. She told about the boy

who she had thought was cute insulting her, she wrote about the annoying Ravenclaw girls, and

she wrote about how she had met Angela, Brittni, Rachel, and Daphne. She wrote about hoe

Alex was a nerd, and Patty was ugly and obnauctious.

"Well well well, what have we here?" Said the now unmistakable voice of Draco Malfoy as

he sat down on the couch next to her. Andy curled her knees up, closed her books, and

wrapped her arms tightly around it. "What are you doing up after lights out?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"I'm a prefect, the firstie rules do not apply to me. So what is so important that you had to

break the rules to be up here?"

"I promised my friend that I would write her as soon as I got here." Andy shrugged,

showing him the book, but making sure she still had a firm grip. She did not trust this Malfoy

character.

"Oh, isn't that sweet? and do you always keep your promises? Can I see the letter?" He

asked.

"No, you may not,m and yes I always keep a promise." Andy replied simply, turning back

to her book. _Who is this girl? She doesn't know who I am, obviously. How can she reffuse _

_me? And more importantly, why do I care?_ He looked at her as she wrote, her sparkling

saphire eyes reflecting the light of the fireplace. Her dark brown hair had large curls in it, and fell

past her shoulders and partly down her back. It was in front of her shoulders, and he watched as

she absent mindedly picked up a curl and began twisting it round and round her fingure.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked suddenly, looking up from her book.

"No, it's okay." He said, and remained sitting on the couch looking at her. He took in her

delicate features, her fragile bone structure. She had a tiny nose and little pink mouth that moved

slightly as she wrote, mouthing the words she was writing. She was nothing like the other girls he

had met here, they fell over themselves to impress him and the other Slytherin boys. She was

different, she wasn't as curvacious as the girls he normally dated, and she wasn't as outgoing as

the girls he normally dated. She wasn't a pureblood, she was younger than him, and it would be

totally unacceptable for him to be interested in her.

While writing her letter, she kept throwing sidelong looks at Draco. He was very good

looking. Deep, hard, cold, eyes, platinum blonde hair, a strong jaw line and, a strait nose.

Although he would be better looking if it weren't for his mouth. It wasn't that he had a bad

mouth, it just didn't look very happy, it looked like he never smiled and didn't know how to have

fun. He was wearing a tee shirt, revealing his tanned, muscular, forearms and large hands. He

was gazing off into the fire, not paying any attention at her, so she continued looking at him.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked, turning to her and seeing her staring at him.

"No, sorry." She said, turning to her notebook and blushing slightly. He chuckled to himself

and changed his posision on the couch so he was sitting facing her.

"So Andromeda 'call-me-Andy' Black, tell me about your family." Andy thought her was

asking to be nice, although he was really only asking to find out whether she would qualify as a

pure blood.

"There isn't really much to tell," Andy said, closing her book and sitting on it. "My father

was murdered by death eaters when I was seven, my mother and I live alone together because

my twin died and she had a miscarriage. I found out two months ago that I was a witch and

came here to study magic, only I really miss my mom and friends."

"Everyone feels that way at first, just give it time, you'll make new friends, and pretty soon

Hogwarts will feel like your family." He said. Andy was starting to feel better, and he was being

really nice to her. _Why had he been such a jerk earlier? Maybe I caught him at a bad _

_time..._ A girl who Andy knew upon sight as Pansy Parkinson, based on her sisters description

and the fact that she was even more pug faced and mouse haired than her sister.

"Malfoy! Did you have a good summer? What have you been up to? I didn't see you on the

train, I was looking for you." Simpered Pansy.

"Uh, yeah I had a good summer."

"Oh, mine was incredible! We went to Europe..." Pansy went on for about ten minutes

about the trip to Europe that Patty had already told her about. "I'm sorry, am I boring you?" She

said turning to Andy who was staring off into the fire.

"No, it's just I already heard all about your vacation from your sister, she's in my dorm."

"Oh, well then maybe you want to leave." She said, rudely, Andy, not wanting to spend any

more time with her than was necessary, got up with her book and left. "Stupid firsties." Muttered

Pansy as she took Andy's seat, scootching towards Malfoy, who did not say anything to defend

Andy. _Jeez, what a jerk. He's nice one minute, and then a totally different person in front _

_of his friends. Why does he even hang out with that bitch anyway? He can do better than _

_her._ Secretly, Andy was thinking of herself. _Only one night here and I've already _

_developed a crush on the most unattainable guy here who is least likely to be interested in _

_me. Actually, truth be told, I don't even like him that much. He's just so hott. And really _

_sweet when he wants to be. _

Andy rolled her eyes at herself, walking down the stairs to her dorm. Except it was not her

dorm. She went to the door labeled 'First Years' and turned the knob. When she oppened the

door she found a room that was the mirror image of her own, except messier, covered in posters

of half naked women and quiddich teams, and filled with boys. _Shit! I must have come down _

_the wrong staircase!_ As she walked in one of the guys whistled, causing the rest to look at

her. Andy herself was staring at one of the guys in the corner, he was changing for sleep and

standing facing her with his shirt off, revealing a six pack. Andy whistled mentall, taking in the

brown hair falling elegantly into his eyes and his dark blue eyes, so dark they could almost

qualify as black. Andy backed out of the room quickly, shutting the door, but not muffling the

sound of laughter coming from behind. Andy ran quickly up the stairs to get to the girls dorms,

she ran strait into Draco.

"What are you doing down here? These are the boys dormitories." Asked Draco, looking

at her with amusmant and laughter in his eyes, but not on his lips. Maybe he didn't even know

how to smile.

"No shit sherlock, I think I figured that out." She replied snippily.

"Well you should pay more attention next time." He said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling

her off him.

"Yeah, thanks for the tip. What are you doing down here anyway? Gotten bored of your

girlfriend?" She said sarcastically, continuing the run up the stairs. _This girl is spunky, I like _

_her._ Andy returned to her dormitory, the correct one this time, and told Rachel about her run in

with Pansy and the hott guy she had seen in the other room. They giggled at Andy's description

of the boy while changing into their own night clothes. Andy said good night and twitched the

hangings of her bed closed, falling to sleep almost instantly.

* * *

**Authors Note: And now you all know why I write stories, not poetry! (I was reffering to the song). Sorry that these first couple of chapies are kind of boring, I need to introduce all the characters before anything good starts to happen, just bear with me here!! As always, read and review!**

* * *


	6. The First Day

Chapter 6

The First Day

Andy woke up bright and early, taking a shower. She towel dryed her hair, figuring it didn't

matter whether or not she dried it because it would be curly anyway, besides, electronics did not

work here, so she hadn't brought her blow dryer. She did not know any magic yet, so it did not

make a difference whether or not she wanted to dry her hair. She sat down on her bed, stroking

a sleeping Merlin.

There was a box of kitty litter in one corner along with a scratching post, niether of which

had been there the night before. Andy shrugged, pleased with the new addition to their room.

She picked Merlin up, placing him on her extra sheets next to the scratching post. She had made

him up a bed last night, but he had joined her in the big bed anyway. She pulled her sheets up,

straitening her comforter, and grabbed her bag with all her books and quills in it. _What else will _

_I need? Quills, ink, books...I'm forgetting something. Oh, duh! Of course! My wand! _

Andy brought the box in which she had packed her wand out of her trunk, opening it and

looking at the wand. It was beautiful, black as night, just like Merlin, save for the one silver

streak. Andy picked it up and shoved it in one side of her bag, all ready for classes.

It was 7:00 now, and a bell was ringing, signaling that it was time to wake up. Andy sensed

motion coming from the other beds as the girls began to stir. Decideding to go upstairs, she

grabbed her bag and went up to the common room to wait for breakfast to start. Breakfast

started at 7:30, and at 8:15 the first classes started. Andy spread her legs out on the couch and

leaned her head back to doze off for a while.

"Good morning, aren't you the girl who came into our dorm last night?" Said a laughing

voice. Andy's head snapped up, and her eyes opened. It was not the hot guy, it was a different

guy, although he was pretty cute too. "My name is Daniel Andrews, by the way."

"Nice meeting you, I'm Andromeda Black, but everyone calls me Andy."

"Cool, so why did you come to our dorm last night?"

"I got lost, I thought it was my dorm. I went down the wrong staircase. Are you by any

chance related to Brittni Andrews?"

"Yeah, she's my twin." He replied. He was tall, really really long hair that stood on end. He

looked a lot like his sister, excepts taller.

"That's cool. So why aren't you two in the same house?" Asked Andy.

"Guess the hat didn't think we belonged together." He said, sounding slightly disinterested.

"Does that happen often? I would have thought families were in the same houses, especially

twins." Andy asked, regardless of his disinterest, he was curious.

"Actually it doesn't happen as often as you might think. She might be my twin but we are

very different." He said, leaning back into the chair he was sitting in. They continued talking for a

while, turned out Daniel was a pure blood as well, although Andy had already known that from

Brittni but did nt want to offend him by saying so, and he had always known that he would be

coming to Hogwarts. Both his parents had been in Slytherin, Brittni was the only one in his family

who had ever been in a house other than Slytherin except for his great uncle. They talked until

7:30, at which point another bell sounded, telling them that Breakfast was starting.

They walked down the stairs to the breakfast hall together and sat down, still talking about

what classes they were most excited about. Andy peppered him with questions about wizarding

government and music, having never been exposed to it herself. She found out all of the obscure

rules of Quiddich, and by the end of breakfast she was a huge fan of the English team, just

though Daniels praise of them. He was very funny, and nice. He was not as cute as Draco, but at

least he wasn't a jerk.

Halfway through breakfast owls begn streaming into the breakfast hall. Andy thew her arms

over her head and began screaming when she saw them.

"What's the matter? This is just the daily post!" He exclaimed, laughing at her.

"You send mail with owls?" She asked curiously.

"Of course. Don't tell me you didn't know that! Jeez, you know nothing at all! Not Quiddch,

not music, you didn't even know about the Ministry of Magic!"

"She didn't know who Dumbledore was either, until yesterday." Chirrped Daphne as she

and Rachel approached them, taking seats next to Andy. "Here you are, we were looking for

you this morning. You missed a glorious row, Emily was on Patty's case about how she was

leaving dirty clothes and towels everywhere and had no respect for any of us. This was after

Patty spent a half hour in the bathroom primping of course, and so Patty started yelling and going

on about her sister. She seems to think we owe her respect of something, just because she's a

pure blood she thinks she's better, so anyway, they were yelling at eachother. We left before

they finished, I think they might still be at it. I'm Rachel by the way, and this is Daphne." She

said, the last part adressed to Daniel.

"I'm Daniel, so, what I want to know is what do you have against pure bloods?"

"Nothing, er, I, er, no. You misunderstood. I don't dislike all pure bloods, just Patty."

Rachel was blushing.

"I was kidding. Good to know though." He said, laughing. He laughed a lot. "Did you really

not know who Dumbledore was?" He said to Andy. "I thought everyone knew Dumbledore!"

He sounded shocked. Andy was saved the embarassment of answering by the arrival of the

schedules. Daniel stood up and walked to the pile of first year Slytherin schedules, picking up

four. He brought them back to where Andy, Daphne, and Rachel were sitting and passed them

out.

****

**Monday-**

8:15am- Charms

9:45am- Double History of Magic with Gryfindor

12:45pm- Lunch

2:15pm- Study Hall

**Tuesday-**

8:15am- Transfiguration

9:45am- Double Potions with Gryfindor

12:45pm- Lunch

2:15pm- Astronomy

**Wednesday-**

8:15am- Herbology

9:45am- Double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Gryfindor

12:45pm- Lunch

2:15pm- Study Hall

11:45pm- Astronomy

**Thursday-**

8:15am- Double Transfiguration with Gryfindor

11:15am- Charms

12:45pm- Lunch

2:15pm- Charms

**Friday-**

8:15am- History of Magic

9:45am- Double Herbology with Gryfindor

11:15am- Defense Against the Dark Arts

12:45pm- Lunch

2:15pm- Potions

"Okay, so who knows anything about Charms?" Asked Andy to the three others. No one

did. Moments later the 8:15 bell rang, signaling that it was time to get to class. The four walked

together to the charms classroom, following the other first years in their house. Andy made a

mental note of which direction the classroom was in and opened the door. She took a seat in the

middle, not wanting to sit in the front, but not wanting to give the impression of being a slacker

on the first day.

Their Charms teacher introduced himself as Professor Flitwick, he was a little man and had

to stand on a pile of 12 books in order to see over his desk. He took role, looking up to meet

everyones eyes as he said their names. He then charmed his desk to fly around the room. Eager

to do the same, all of the students got out their wands. It was not for another few moments that

they realized they woul not be doing anything as complicated as this for quite sme time. Instead,

they were all given feathers, an incantation, and a hand motion and told to try to levitate the

feather.

Andy was so excited, this would be the first spell she ever used. She swished her wand and

flicked it towards the feather "Wingardium Leviosa!" She said, flicking her wand again. The

feather rose easily into the air, no sweat. This was easy. She swished and flicked her wand

again, pointing it at the feather, but forgetting the incantation. A beam of red light flew from the

tip and shot the feather, causing it to burst into flames.

"Ms. Black!" Professor Flitwick said, exagerating the s in Ms. so that it sounded like a long

z, "please, the assignment was to levitate the feather, which you did quite nicely, kindly do not

blow anything else up! If you do that again it will be 10 points from Gryfindor, I would hate to

have to deduct points in the first class of the first day."

"What are points?" She whispered to Daniel as he turned his back to get her another

feather.

"You don't know what house points are? Goodness, you really are clueless aren't you?"

"Yes, so what are they?"

"Well see, there are these hourglasses filled with emeralds, yellow diamonds, saphires, and

rubies, depending on the house color. When you do good things, teachers reward you points

and stones fall into the hourglass, when you do bad things they come out of the hour glass. At

the end of the year, the house with the most points gets awarded the house cup. It's a great

honor."

"Quiet Mr. Andrews, I notice you haven't managed to levitate your feather yet." Said

professor Flitwick, coming to their desks with another feather for Andy.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Said Andy, swishing and flicking her wand, but accidentally pointing

it at the retreating back of professor Flitwick, he levitated off the ground and hung in the air.

"Oh, ooo, get me down from here!" he yelled, giggling slightly.

"I'm dreadfully sorry professor! Oh, my goodess, how do I reverse the spell?"

"Don't do anything! Let me do it. You will kindly stay after class Ms. Black." He said,

pointing his own wand at himself and muttering the counter spell. And hour later, the bell rand

signaling the end of class. "Ms. Black, you are not in trouble, don't worry. Everyone makes

mistakes and today was your first day. I was surprised, frankly, that you were capable of

preforming such a charm, I would like to give you a few private lessons and see if you can

master the other spells as quickly, if this is the case, I will be moving you up to a more advanced

level."

Andy thanked him and ran out of the classroom to catch up with Rachel. She would never

be able to find History of Magic without help. Luckily, Rachel, Daphne, and Daniel had not gone

far, so she told them about the possibility of being moved up on the way to History of Magic.

This class was so boring that Andy thoguht she would die. It was taught by a ghost named

professor Binns, rather than a person, who droned on and on without pausing for a full three full

hours, as this was a double period. Half the class dozed off while the other half either passed

notes, or threw paper balls through Professor Binns.

Some of the roudier boys made up a game, the purpose of which was to throw as many spit

balls through the professor as possible without getting caught. This game proved to be

remarkably easy, as he never noticed it, so by the end of class there was a large pile of spit balls

behind professor Binns.

Andy herself was not in either group, she continued writing her letter to Shelli, detailing

Daniel, her meeting with Draco and Pansy, her intrusion of the boys dorms, and how boring her

class had been. As well as sthe fact that she might be moving up in one of her classes. She did

not, however, mention that said class was charms, she still managed not to mention that she was

a witch partially for fear that Shelli would turn on her, partially out of fear that Shelli would tell,

or use her for her magic, disbelieve her, or ignore her. She just said that she might be moving up

in one of her classes, without mentioning the fire, or the levitating of her teacher. Lunch came

next, and Andy, Daniel, Rachel, and Daphne all sat together again.

"So, Daniel, how is it that you choose our company over that of your male friends?" Daphne

asked him over her pot roast.

"Well," he swallowed his mouthful of scalding soup, "I don't really have any friends yet,

besides you guys of course. We are friends right?" He asked, looking at the three. Daphne and

Rachel were both silent, but Andy assured him that she, for one, was certainly his friend.

"Why can't girls and boys be friends without it becoming sexual?" She asked of Rachel

later, deffending her statement earlier. "Daniel is really nice, he is my friend, just as much as you

are. Well, slightly less."

"And, you don't want to be more than friends with him?" She asked in a conspiritoial

whisper, leaning closer to Andy totally seriously.

"You really want to know?" Andy asked, leaning in herself and acting as if it were the most

serious confession in the world. "He's only a friend!" She said, acting as if she had just told a

huge secret.

Study hall proved to be massivly boring, they went to the library, which was huge and filled

with every book anyone could ever possibly need, and every book no one would ever want.

They sat six to a round table, Andy, Daphne, Emily, Rachel, Daniel, and another girl named

Denise with curly, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. _Why are so many of the girls here so _

_petite? Is it like a magical law that you have to be skinny and short in order to preform _

_magic?!_

The six shared sources and notes from professor Binns's class as they wrote their essay.

The topic was the lack of werewolf rights, they were to have two rolls of parchement on the

laws and circumtances leading up to the persecution and abstention of warewolves. The only

problem was, no one had paid attention during his class, so they had no notes.

They spent at least half an hour gathering research, and Andy had only written one and a half rolls of parchement when study hall ended. Fortunately it was the last period of the day, so

she stayed in the library, as did most of the class, to finish her paper.

At 4:00 she returned to the common room, a little tired, and slightly flustered, but pleased

with her first day. She had to write an essay for charms about the invention and usage of the

levitation charm, so she got out her schedule to see when it would be due. _Good, no charms _

_until thursday, so I don't have to write it tonight. I get to slack off!_

She looked at tomarrows schedule, transfiguration, that was supposed to be difficult from

what she had heard, and the teacher was the stern looking woman from the night before. Andy

was a little scared for that class.

Then was potions. Apparently, that was a breeze, as the teacher was head of Slytherin and

favored his own students a lot. That class was going to be with the Gryfindors, and according to

what she had heard, being in a class with the potions instructor and anyone from Gryfindor was

always memorable to say the least.

Astronomy was tomarrow night, that subject Andy was pretty sure she could handle.

Muggle school offered astronomy too, and she had taken it as an elective a few semesters ago.

This teacher probabally had nothing to tell her that she hadn't already heard.

"So, firstie, how was your first day?" Asked the snide voice of Draco Malfoy, grabbing her

schedule out of her hands. _Why does he keep coming to talk to me? Doesn't he worry about _

_what it will do to his reputation, I thought he was so concerned about that on the _

_platform_. Andy tried to retrieve her schedule, but he was much taller and faster than herself. He

lept over the back of the couch sitting down.

"Oh, you have potions with Gryfindor tomarrow? Lucky you, professor Snape is the best

teacher here." Andy, not wanting to sound stupid again, made a mental note that the potions

teacher who played favorites was named Snape.

"So I've heard. May I please have my schedule back now?" She asked sweetly, as soon as

he had looked up at her she grabbed it, walking away in the direction of her dorm. Daphne

joined her on the stairs, a bit out of breathe.

"How could you have walked away from Draco Malfoy?" Daphne asked, looking slightly

awestruck.

"What do you mean?" Andy asked, he was hott, but he was not a god or anything.

"From what I've heard, he's the hottest, most popular, richest person in Slytherin."

"I'm sure he is, he seems to be the most at a lot of things." In response to Daphnes puzzled

stare, she continued, "he's also the most stuck up, self centered, inconsiderate person, character

traits which I personally do not respect, admire, or seek out." Andy replied, continuing to walk

down the stairs.

"He's not that bad, besides, he sought you out, he obviously likes you." Andy snorted at

this. This was obviouslty a girl from rural England, in which holding hands qualifies as going to

second, and eye contact mans potential marriage. Andy knew differently, the only way you

knew for sure if a guy liked you was if he said so, kissing was not proof, he can kiss whoever he

wanted and it didn't mean he was tied down, and hearing from his friends did not count. The

bases did not go crush, hand holding, goodnight kiss on the cheek, peck on the lips. Draco

Malfoy taking her schedule and telling her that professor Snape was a good teacher did not

mean he liked her, and if that was his way of saying that he liked her, then he was way too

kindergarten for her taste anyway.

Andy wasn't even looking for a boyfriend right now. Andy spent the evening organizing

belongings and getting situated. Merlin was enjoying his scratching post, but as soon as she

entered the room he came over and lept on her, climbing up her with his claws. It hurt a little, but

Andy did not mind, it was nice to be appreciated.

"So, Daphne, what about you? Seen any guys that spark your interest yet?" Asked Andy,

midway through folding her towel.

"Not really, Daniel seems really nice. And hes cute. He's smart too." She said, plopping

down on the window seat next to Andy's bed and curling her legs up underneathe herself.

"Sounds to me like you might be interested. Come on, admit it. Not even the tiniest bit?"

"Well, maybe a little, but I think Rachel is too, so don't say anything." Daphne said quickly,

looking around the room as if it were a big deal to (a). like a guy, and (b). like the same guy as

your friend. Andy rolled her eyes, turning her back.

"When's your birthday Daphne?" Andy asked, curious.

"In a week and five days. September 14. I turn 13 then. When's yours?"

"April 1, I turn 14 then."

"So you're like, er," Daphne counted on her fingures, "six months older than me."

"Isn't it seven?"

"Are you counting April? Because I'm not." Daphne said, saving herself quickly.

"What are you kids talking about?" Rachel asked, walking into the room.

"Our birthdays, when's yours?" Daphne said.

"November 20. You?" Rachel replied, flicking her hair.

"I'm September 14, Andy's April 1." Daphne told her.

"Oh, so yours is coming soon. What do you want us to get you?" Rachel asked Daphne.

"I dunno, I'll have to think about it." Daphne said, thinking hard.

"Okay, well I'm out, I think I'm going to go explore the grounds, anyone want to come?"

Andy declared.

"No thanks, I want to get started on Flitwicks essay." Rachel said, flopping onto her bed,

messing up the made up covers, and opening her bag to start her essay. Andy left the room,

walking upstairs and out of the portrait hole.

_ Poor Merlin, he should get some fresh air, he was cooped up all day, maybe _

_tomarrow I'll let him out into the common room, I wonder if anyone is allergic to cats?_

Andy walked up the stone staircases to the main entrance hall where she exited the large doors,

going outside. She walked over to the lake, _this must be where we paddled up last night, it _

_looks so much nicer and more friendly in daylight_.

There was a nice tree over by one corner of the lake with long bows that leaned so far

down that they touched the surface of the lake, rupturing the glassy smoothness. Andy lay down

in the shade, the leaves were beginning to change colors, and the light through the leaves played

across the green grass. Lying down on the lush, soft grass she felt the suns rays carressing her

face. She was so tired, and the sun was so warm. Merlin lept across her lap, frolicing in the late

afternoon sunlight. She must have dozed off for quite some time, because the shadows had

moved entirely and it was no longer quite as hot.

Andy sat up, maybe she was still tired, because she thought she saw a giant tentacle

stretching across the lake towards where she was lying. She rubbed her eyes, she was not

dreaming, there was a tentacle on the lake, and it was growing closer by the second.

"EEK!!!" Shreiked Andy, leaping up and grabbing Merlin in her arms, and retreating closer

to the trunk of the tree. The tentacle cleared the edge of the pond and started to inch towards

Andy. "AHHH. HELP, HELP, SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!" Andy grew desparate, there was

nowhere for her to run, she was backed up to the tree trunk, Merlin in her arms with the giant

tentacle looming ever larger.

* * *

The giant man who had led her and the other first years across the lake the preceding night

came running across the grounds to help the child who was screaming. He saw a small girl with

dark brown wavy hair cornered against the trunk of a large tree, being attacked by a giant

tentacle of a giant squid. She was holding a cat in her arms, and there was something vaguley

familiar about her.

He started to go to her rescue, but just as he was about to reach her she pulled her wand

out of her robes. _The girl had a wand the whole time and she just stood there? The bloody _

_fool, she had me worried to death_. She did not say a spell that Hagrid heard, but just pointed

her wand at the creatures tentacle. A blast of red light burst out of her wand tip, scorching the

side of the tentacle. She pointed again, and again until the tentacle retreated back into the water.

Hagrid returned to his hut, shaken.

Never in all of his time at Hogwarts had he seen the squid attack a student, and never

before had her seen the squid hurt. This first year girl, for he had remembered her from the night

before, had burned it's tentacle so severely that it had withdrawn from a fight, in past years, if

provoked of maimed, the squid would defend itself, and never before had it been hurt or scared

enough to cause it to retreat.

* * *

Andy ran back up to the castle, afraid that the beast, whatever it was, would attack again.

She made her way to the Slytherin common room and collapsed onto the overstuffed sofa, still

gasping for breathe.

"Whats wrong with you?" Asked a familiar voice.

"Why is it that you are always here? Don't you have anything better to do with your time

than sit on the sofa waiting for me?" Andy demanded impatiently.

"No. Oh, while I have you here, I just wanted to clarify that Pansy is by no means my

girlfriend." Draco said.

"Lucky for her. What, did you stay up all night coming up with that one?" Andy was in a

bad mood, and although he had done nothing to her as of yet, she was on guard just in case.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong, or just sit there sulking?" He asked, perfectly,

infuriatingly, calmly.

"Sit here and sulk, maybe you should leave, wouldn't want to bore you." She said in a

perfect imitation of Pansy from the night before. Draco just laughed and got up, shaking his head

as he walked away. _Well, is he frustrating, or is he frustrating? Maybe I was a little harsh _

_though._ Andy leaned back, closing her eyes and running her hands through her hair, masaging

her temple. Merlin scratched her leg, wanting to be petted.

"So, what is wrong?" It was no longer Draco, nor any other voice she had heard as of yet.

She opened one eye. Excellent, it was the hot guy who she had walked in on changing, just what

she wanted.

"Nothin is wrong, except that you are here, so why don't you leave?" She said snippily.

"No, not until you tell me what is wrong. Was that guy bothering you? He's a real jerk,

Draco Malfoy, right?" Why was this guy trying to make convorsation with her? And why didn't

he get all offended when she snipped at him like all the other drama queens she had

encountered.

"What's your name?" She asked, opening her eyes and scooping Merlin onto her lap.

"Joshua Cummings, but everyone calls me Josh." Said the guy.

"Good for them. My name is Andy." She said shortly.

"So, Andy, why are you so irritable?" He asked.

"Because I was just attacked by a giant tentacle when I was out by the pond." Josh burst

out laughing, but stopped when he saw that she was not kidding.

"You're serious? Wierd. What was it?"

"If I knew, do you think I would have described it as a giant tentacle?"

"Well, maybe?" He did not have anything to say to her, he was no match for her when it

came to exchanging wit. He was a waste of her time.

"I'm tired." Andy said, standing up and taking Merlin down the correct staircase to her

bedroom. She collapsed with exhaustion after her first day at Hogarts, maybe this whole magic

thing was going to be harder than she had thought.

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**Authors Note: Okay, that was a really long one, so I expect lots of gloriously long reviews, or just lots. Heehee. Okay, sorry it took me such a long time to update, I am suffering from a severe case of writers block...same deal with my other story, except that for that one I have 4 new chapies in my doc manager that I am not posting to torment you...bwahahaha (okay, so it needs a little work) Okay, that was long enough..press the little review button!**

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	7. Authors Note

Hey! I'm tres sorry about the whole Andy being 13 thing. I noticed that myself, while I was reading it, thats right, I read my own fics...Anyway, I just wanted to make them closer in age, cause I had no romantic possibilities with malfoy if she were 11 and he were 16, that would be a little, no, more than a little sketchy to say the least. I felt like having her be 13 was slightly better, and that, had I made her a transfer student or something, it would get way too coincidental and confusing. No offense to anyone who does that of course. Okay, so now I'm just rambling...but i do appologize for the whole first years being 13 thing, it just worked with the story...expect new chaps soon and keep reviewing!! 


	8. A Hard Day and Night

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**Authors Note: Oh my god!!! I am SOOOO Sorry for taking so long to update!!! I was away for a month, but here is an obnoctiously long chapter, as one of my reviewers from my other story so fondly reffers to my writing as...sorry, the person was being a bitch (I hope they're reading this!) and so now I'm obsessing about it...haha, well, this one is like 14 pages, so enjoy!**

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Chapter 7

A Hard Day and Night

Andy did not sleep well, she had dreams about giant tentacles chasing her. She also saw images of Josh's face after she had been so mean to him. She rolled out of bed early again, taking the first shower before Patty got up and used all the hot water again. Andy towel dried her hair, putting it up into a ponytail. She pulled on her Hogwarts robes and added a touch of lip gloss and perfume. Andy pulled on her bright red sneakers, tyeing the laces and exiting the room quietly with her book sac. She grabbed a sleeping Merlin and brought him upstairs with her to the common room. No one was there, thank goodness, so she decided to work on her essay for professor Flitwick. She lay Merlin out on the couch so that he could continue his sleep, and put her bag on the chair next to her. She withdrew her bag, noticing the letter she had been writing to Shelli and making a mental note to post it today. _Wonder where I can get an owl, or if there is just a normal postman who comes here. Where would I get stamps?_

She looked through the notes she had taken the preceding day, trying to find the part that described the uses of the levitation spell and where it had been used successfully in the past. She wrote her thesis statement, just as her 7th grade english teacher had taught her, after writing a general overview of how the spell worked. She poceded to write out the essay, not liking parts of it, but overall thinking it was quite good. Andy heard the bell signalling that it was time to wake up and heard her stomach growl. She wanted breakfast, but it would not start for another half hour.

Andy stared around the common room trying to find something to distract herself, her eyes fell on a tapestry. She went over to it, and upon closer inspection it had the names of all the members of Slytherin house, graduating members only, dating all the way back to Salazar Slytherin himself. Although he had not graduated Hogwarts and had been one of the founders, this she had learned from the book Hermione had leant her to do background reading on Harry, he had apparently signed his name at the head of the tapestry anyway. The top of the tapestrry was faded, and the bottom was not finished yet, as there were still years of names to come. Andy liked this tapestry, and looked forward to the day she would have the privelage of adding her own name.

"So, you like the tapestry do you?" Came a voice behind her. She wheeled around to face Josh.

"Listen, Josh, I'm really sorry, I was very mean yesterday. I shouldn't have been-"

"It's okay, don't worry about it, I'm a laid back kind of guy, I don't mind. You were having a bad day, happens to the best of us." He said, brushing it off dissmissively. _That was kind of him not to care, but maybe that was because he didn't care about my opinion and didn't respect what I thought or had to say._

_**And maybe, you're overanalyzing the situation, maybe I honestly don't care.**_ Andy looked up, startled by this intrusion of her thoughts. She looked into Josh's deep blue eyes, so blue they were almost opaque, but could read nothing in them.

"Of course I care what you have to say." He said softly. _Who is this boy? I'll have to be careful what I think around him._

"That you will."

"How do you do that?" She asked, staring at him.

"Do what?" He replied mischievously.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, and both of us know it, so don't play dumb." She said, demanding an answer.

"I know, I just like to hear you say it. I don't actually know how I do it, I've always been able to, as far back as I can remember. Don't tell anyone though, I've never actually spoken to people in their thougths before. It's kind of cool."

"I think creepy is more appropriate." Said Andy. "So, am I really the only person who knows?"

"Really really. Now you have to tell me a secret of yours." He said.

"Tell you what, I'll think it, just in case anyone's listening." She said, sitting down on the couch and placing a purring Merlin on her lap.

_My father is from a pure blood wizarding family. His name is Remulus Black, and he was a death eater. Right after he joined, he fell in love with a muggle woman. To the death eaters, this was unacceptable, she represented everything they were against and out to destroy. He fled so that he could be with her, because he loved her so much. He changed his name, lost all contact with his family, and was believed dead. He had a daughter with his new wife, and named her Andromeda. When she was seven years old he went missing, leaving his pregnant wife with their seven year old daughter. She miscarried the baby, and he was never seen again. Knowing it was the work of the death eaters, his wife fled, changing her name and the name of her daughter yet again. She sank into depression and over eating, six years later her daughter recieved a letter from Hogwarts and left, leaving her mother all alone with her memories and fear. On the way to Hogwarts, Andromeda told everyone that her last name was Black, taking her fathers old name. It wasn't until later that she discovered the death eaters had returned. In case you didn't catch that, my real name is Andromeda._

"Are you kidding? Is that really true?" Asked Josh, sucking up through his nose and sounding slightly hoarse. Andy was pleased that her story had touched him.

"Yes, it's all true, so now I have to hope the death eaters won't kill me for revenge." Said Andy, deadly calm. "Now you want the real secret? I'm afraid. I've never been afraid of anything, and now I'm afraid for my mother and myself."

"Your poor mother." Was all Josh said. People had started to trickle into the common room, so Josh and Andy decieded to head to the great hall. On the way up they ran into Daniel and they all sat together. Andy did not mention Josh's secret, and he did not mention hers.

"Transfiguration, I hear that's the hardest class here." Said Daniel. "Mogonagal is the woman who read our names for sorting, she's really strict I've heard." They went to the class early, and sat in the front row so as to look studius and interested. Professor Mogonogal entered the classroom while some students were still trickling in.

"From now on you will come to my class on time, one point from each of you who were late." Five points deducted already, and class hadn't even started. She stood at the front of the class and took role, when she reached Andy's name, she stressed the Andromeda, she must have heard Andys comment yesterday.

After taking an hours worth of notes, they were each given matches and told to turn them into needles. Andy, expecting this to come as easily as charms had, did not pay attention during the note taking process. When she was given her match she pointed her wand and said the incantation. "Trasformare fiammifero!" Said Andy, casually pointing her wand at the match. It rolled off the desk, but did not change color or shape. Andy distinctly noticed Professor Mogonagals mouth twitch. This only made Andy more determined to prove that she could do it. "Trasformare Fiammifero!" She said more loudly, pointing her wand more purposfully. The match burst into flame. Professor Mogonagal came over, extinguishing the match with a spout of water from her wand.

"Try again, Ms. Black." She said, placing a second match on Andys desk. Andy was greatful when the bell rang, she had not managed to transform thae match, although hers was slightly metallic, and no on else had suceeded either. They had been assigned to write and essay describing how the transformation took place, Josh had told Andy that he would let her copy his notes if she needed to. Andy diligantly copied the assignment into her notebook, as she did at the beggining of every term of school. She always started off organized, but by the middle of the year she had always lost interest or missed a few weeks, throwing her off for the rest of the year.

They were downstairs in the dungeons for potions, and were all milling in the hall, not knowing what to do, when professor Snape approached from behind.

"What are you all standing here for? Get into the classroom." Andy was glad that her common room was near to this classroom, because she had managed to have enough time between potions and transfiguration to sprint to her common room and grab her cauldron. She was not alone, most of the other Slytherin first years had been counting on this time frame to grab their cauldrons as well. The entered the class slightly after the rest, earning them and evil look from professor Snape, but nothing more. Andy and Daniel shared a desk and partnered up for the concoction of the Silliness Solution. The instructions were written on the board, and the supplies, if they were so irresponsible to not have bought them over the holidays, could be found in the supply cupboard.

Andy diced her, what Andy reffered to as, green fuzzy planty thing, while Daniel got the cauldron to the appropriate temperature.

_What the hell is the name of this plat, and how the hell does he expect me to remember it?_ Andy asked herself, to her surprise, there was an answer,

_**I think it's some sort of thistle, or maybe he said it was thyme, I'm not sure. Did you read your copy of 1000 Herbs and Fungae?**_

_Would you get out of my thoughts? You have no idea how disturbing that is_.

_**Sorry, **_he replied, and he did not talk again after that, although Andy was very careful about what she thought from then on. Snape prowled around the classroom, breathing down the backs of everyones necks, picking on Gryfindors, and looking for the student who would be this years scapegoat. He found it in Brittni, maybe he thought that because she was small she could be pushed around easily, but he was wrong.

"You're doing it all wrong, I suppose you added the Nettle before you put the cauldron on simmer, you foolish girl. I would suggest that I require you to test the potion, but I doubt that if it worked we would be able to tell." Daniel grew hot around the neck and ears on behalf of his sister as the majority of Slytherins burst out laughing. Andy did not, as she had liked Brittni, and liked Daniel, and didn't think that she had meritted that sort of remark. Brittni drew herself up to her full hieght, facing professor Snape.

"Excuse me sir, but my causlron is on simmer, and I have never done this before, whereas you do this every year and it is your responsibility to make sure we know what we're doing. What kind of teacher are you to critisize me for making a common mistake that anyone would make when it wasn't even explained to me?" Snape, recovering from the shock of being spoken back to by a student, answered back. He was not going to be taking any lip from a student, especially not a Gryffindor student.

"Are the directions not clearly written on the board? It is your responsibility to be able to read, not mine. I did not realize that it was in my job description to teach over excited children with the maturity level of two year olds simple reading. Can you, or can you not read the board?" He asked in a sarcastic voice.

"Yes I can." She replied frostily.

"Well then, by all means, please read us line number seven." He said.

"Add the finely chopped nettles to the potion after putting it on a simmer." Said Brittni softly.

"That is what I thought it said. Oh, and 20 points from Gryfinndor for your insolence and cheekiness, and for critisizing my teaching. Now I think of it, why don't we add in a detention or two, shall we?" He turned away from her potion, swirling his robes around him and going back to the front of the class.

"She shouldn't have lost her temper with him, but that's Brittni for you. She always looses her temper at the drop of a hat." Andy looked at where Brittni was standing. She was turning bright red, and Andy noticed the girl sharing her desk had put a restraining hand on her arm to prevent her from speaking any more.

"At least he can't find fault with our potion, we followed all the instructions perfectly." He concluded more cheerfully. The two corked their sample and brought it to the front of the room. Snape gave than an approving smile, which Andy returned. Best to get on the good side of this one. They were assigned an essay on the uses of the Silliness Solution and how it would be used, it only needed to be one roll of parchemnt, he claimed he was looking for thoughtfullness. In Andys experience when teachers said they wanted thoughtfullness they were looking for you to suck up, or cram all the information you could into a shorter essay so that they didn't have to read a lot of long repetative essays.

Andy had a steaming roll covered in butter for her lunch on the way to Astronomy, which was located at the top of the tallest tower. Andy had been wrong when she had thought that there was nothing more to be taught about the stars. Their teacher, Professor Randell, was the head of Ravenclaw house. She had glasses and an expression that suggsted she spent most of her time day dreaming and staring into the skys. Considering that she was an astronomy teacher, this was probabally true of her. She spoke with passion about the possitioning of the stars and how it effected their lives. She spoke of how the position of the stars at certain times was imparative, and how people had used the stars to navigate. They were assigned to fill out a star chart of the position of the stars at their moment of birth, and were given several handouts on the moon cylces, most well known constallations, and stories relating to them.

This topic seemed really broad, it covered mythology, and a basic introduction to divination as well as in depth astronomy, but Andy enjoyed the class very much. In the muggle world she had found the class excrutiatingly dull, but Professor Randells passion for her subject showed through, making it interesting. Andy was sure that this would be her favorite class, although she was more than a little disappointed at the lack of magic used in it. They were all to come back that Wednesday night at 11:45 to stargaze with telescopes and see the fall constellations. Professor Randell spoke with excitment about the charts they would be making themselves, labeling the stars and learning their positions in the night sky. They learned how to read a star chart, and how to navigate using one. It was all very interesting.

At dinner that night Andy ran into Harry Potter and his friends yet another time. She was sitting between Rachel and Josh, with Daniel on the other side of Rachel and Daphne on his other side when she felt a tap on her back.

"So, how have your first two days been? I heard a rumor that you were attacked by the giant squid." He said in a friendly manner, glancing at Ron and Hermione.

"Yeah, I guess that's what it was." She said, looking at her own friends and back at Harry skeptically.

"So, how did you get away?" He asked by way of making convorsation.

"I shot it with a jet of red flames from my wand." She replied casually, eating again.

"Yeah right, you're only a first year, you couldn't possibly make a beam of fire, let alone one powerful enough to maim the squid. I doubt it even attacked you." Hermione said, tossing her uncontrollable frizzes over her shoulder.

"Are you calling me a liar? I was there, was I not? I know what I did better than you thank you very much." Andy snapped, spinning around and ignoring Josh, who was attempting to communicate with her through her thoughts. She blocked him out and continued to glare at Hermione.

"So, how did you do it then? What spell did you use?" Challenged Hermione.

"I didn't, I just thgought about what I wanted to happen, and it did." Andy said shortly.

"Of course. That is so very plausible. I doubt even I could do that, that is very advanced magic. You cannot possibly be capable of just thinking of the result you want and not even saying the spell and still causing it to happen. It just doesn't make any sense at all." She sniffed, looking to Harry for support.

"Well that is what happened, how many things here do make sense? If you ask me it doesn't make much sense at all for staircases to change position, suits of armor to walk, and paintings to talk, and yet they do. So tell me, does it really make any less sense for me to sendsparks out of my wand?"

"I suppose not." Hermione said slowly, pushing her hair out of her face as Harry chuckled at her remark. Apparently no one ever proved Hermione wrong about anything.

"I'm often confused by the stuff here too, don't worry about it. I was wondering if I could talk to you?" Harry said, shooting Hermione an evil look that clearly told her to back off and not cause any problems.

"What makes you think it's confusing to me? Whose worrying?" Andy asked accusingly.

"I just thought maybe, since you said-" Harry stammered, oviously trying not to offend her.

"You want to meet with me now? It's the middle of dinner." She said, cutting him off before he made an even bigger fool of himself. It was too easy to confuse the people here.

"Well, if it isn't Potty and the Weasle, I see you are still tagging along with them, mudblood." Said the snide voice of Draco Malfoy, addressing Hermione. "Are they bothering you Andy?" He asked, looking at her as she flushed slightly.

"You certainly know how to pick your company Andy, already hanging out with the smarm ball are you?" Ron said, starting to move his very large self towards Draco. He was restrained by Hermiones arm on his shoulder.

"Draco, why don't you leave?" Hermione said. "Stop pestering people and go make some friends." She snipped.

"Oh, touchy Granger, aren't you? As a matter of fact, I came over here to make sure you weren't pestering people. Andy, if they're bothering you just tell them to leave." Draco said, looking at her expectantly. On the one hand, Andy did not like this Granger girl, but she did not like Draco either.

"As a matter of fact Draco, I was just going to go speak with Harry." As soon as the words left Andys mouth she regretted it. Her friends looked surprised, Hermione looked concieted and pleased with herself, and worst of all, Draco looked hurt. He turned and walked away, his robes flowing behind him. "So, what do you want?" Andy asked Harry a little to abruptly.

"I would prefer it if we could talk somewhere private," when he saw Andys reaction to this statement he continued, "it's about your family." Andy stood up and followed him out of the dining hall, hearing whispers follow her. When she turned around she saw Draco watching her, horrified.

"So, what do you want?" Andy said, finishing her mouthfull of food.

"Do you know your father or his family?" Harry asked slowly.

"My father was murdered when I was seven years old." She said bluntly.

"Do you know what his name was?" Harry asked hopefully, leaning forward.

"Of course. His name was Regulus Black." She said.

"What do you know about him?" Harry rushed on, speaking more quickly and excitedly.

"Well, he was from a high class pure blood family and had an older brother. He joined the death eaters and was murdered when he tried to leave them for love of a muggle." Andy thought, _what was he trying to prove?_ "That's pretty much it."

"Did you ever meet your uncle?" Harry asked.

"No, we were in hiding, his whole family thought he was dead and did not even know I existed." Andy told him. Seeing his face fall she asked "why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason really. Your uncle was my godfather. He was murdered by death eaters too at the end of last year, it was mostly my fault."

"No it wasn't Harry, don't start that again, it had nothing to do with you. It was no ones fault." Hermione said rushing to his side to appease him. He looked pale and shaken, as if in a far off memory of what had happened before.

"Well, I was just thinking, he was the last Black living, or so we thought. But now you're here, and that changes everything." Harry continued, ignoring Hermione.

"How does that change anything?" Andy asked him, curious as to why her being a Black made any difference at all.

"Does Dumbledore know about your relation to Sirius?" Harry asked, changing the subject and avoiding the question.

"Who the hell is Sirius?" Andy asked, angry that he was doing everything on his terms, forcing her to explain everything, and then offering her no explanation in return.

"Your uncle, but does Dumbledore know?" Harry asked.

"I assume so, why wouldn't he? It's not a secret or anything." She replied to this, in her mind, rather ridiculous question.

"Maybe it should be more secret. You should tell Dumbledore." With that he, Ron, and Hermione left the room. What a wierd kid, why would she tell Dumbledore? I'll tell Professor Snape, seeing as he is my house head.

Andy made her way down to the common room and decided to seek out Draco to appologize. She scanned the crowded room, spotting him in a corner playing with Merlin and chatting with Gregory and Vincent. He looked up at the sound of her footsteps and then turned back to her cat, ignoring her.

"Draco, I'm sorry okay?" She said, taking a seat on the floor next to him.

"Guys, leave." He told his two 'friends'. From what Andy had heard, he did not treat them like friends. The two oafs lumbered off, leaving Draco and Andy alone. "So, you came to appologize? What for?" He asked her deffensively, looking skeptical.

"For making you look bad in front of Harry." She said cooly, leaning against the said of his chair.

"I don't give a rats ass what Pot head and his little chums think about me." He snarled.

"I think that's a lie, and you know it. You didn't like that you lost face in front of them, don't deny it."

"So why did you do it then? To make me look bad? Why do you even think I care?"

"Because you do. I can tell that you do, no matter how much you pretend not to care what people think about you." She had decided that calmness, not rage, was the best tact under these circumstances.

"It doesn't matter, you can go hang around with Goody Goody Granger, Weasle boy, and Pot head as much as you want, but don't come crying to me when you realize how lame they are." He said angrily.

"You know what I think?" Andy said, eyes sparkling with anger. What right did he to tell her who she could and could not hang around with? To hell with calmness, he was a jackass and she was going to get as angry as she wanted. "I think you're afraid. I think you're jealous." She informed him, standing up so that she was taller than him.

"Me? Jealous of Potter?" Draco spat. "Impossible."

"No, not impossible, true. He's famous isn't he? He conquered Lord Voldemort or whatever his name is and you're intimidated." She said, ignoring the collective shivers around the room from those who had been eavesdropping. Even Draco flinched as she spoke, perhaps she had struck upon the truth.

"Well, if I'm such a coward, why don't you go and find your hero Potty and follow him around worshiping his footsteps?"

"You know what? Maybe I will, and you know what else? There's nothing you could do about it!" Andy fumed silently as she walked past the staring common room. She entered her dormitory and flopped onto her bed, sighing with frustration. The next morning at breakfast she was still feeling outraged over Dracos reaction to her speaking with Harry, he had no right to say any of those things. Her thought were intrupted by the arrival of the mail.

"Hey, Andy, you have a letter." Josh informed her, tapping her on the shoulder and waking her from her trance.

"Oh, right, of course. Yes, okay." Andy looked at the bird sitting in front of her. A few minutes later Josh looked back and saw that she was still sitting in the same position looking at the bird.

"What are you doing?" He asked, laughing.

"Um, well, what exactly am I supposed to do with it?" She asked, looking at the owl confusedly.

"Are you kidding?" He asked uproariously. "You take the letter off the leeg silly, what did you think you did?"

"Well excuse me, it's not like I've ever done this whole wizarding thing before!"

"Relax, I was only joking, you need to calm down. Here, I'll do it for you." Josh said as he stretched across her, lifting up the owl. He really was quite good looking, and Andy was rather shocked to find herself self consious as he brushed her arm while reaching for the owl. He untied the letter gently and handed it to her. She opened the letter as the owl flew away, back to wherever it was the owls went. Andy opened the seal, scanning the note and looking to the bottom to find who it was from. It was from Professor Flitwick, telling her that he would expect her in his office that evening for lessons on charms to see if she was talented enough to move up a level. Andy sighed, looking forward to a long, busy day. This magic thing was harder than she had anticipated.


End file.
